Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation GuideFirst Published: 2014-11-11

Last Modified: 2018-02-07

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C O N T E N T S

P r e f a c e Preface v

Audience v

Related Documentation v

Documentation Feedback vi

C H A P T E R 1 Introduction 1

About the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller 1

About the ACI Simulator 1

C H A P T E R 2 Simulator Topology 3

Simulated Topology and Connections 3

Simulator Server Physical Connections 4

Connecting Network Service Applicances 5

Connecting AAA Server and Syslog Server 7

C H A P T E R 3 First Time Access 9

Prerequisites for Configuring the Simulator 9

Starting the Simulator 9

C H A P T E R 4 Installing the ACI Simulator Software 11

Installing the ACI Simulator Software 11

Installing the Simulator using a PXE Server 11

Installing the Simulator Using Virtual Media 13

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide iii

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guideiv

Contents

Preface

This preface includes the following sections:

• Audience, page v

• Related Documentation, page v

• Documentation Feedback, page vi

AudienceThis guide is intended primarily for data center administrators with responsibilities and expertise in one ormore of the following:

• Virtual machine installation and administration

• Server administration

• Switch and network administration

Related Documentation• Cisco ACI Simulator Release Notes

• Cisco ACI Simulator Getting Started Guide

The Application Centric Infrastructure documentation set includes the following documents that are availableon Cisco.com at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html.

Web-Based Documentation

• Cisco APIC Management Information Model Reference

• Cisco APIC Online Help Reference

• Cisco APIC Python SDK Reference

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide v

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html

• Cisco ACI Compatibility Tool

• Cisco ACI MIB Support List

Downloadable Documentation

• Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Release Notes

• Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure Fundamentals Guide

• Cisco APIC Getting Started Guide

• Cisco APIC REST API User Guide

• Cisco APIC Object Model Command Line Interface User Guide

• Cisco APIC Faults, Events, and System Messages Management Guide

• Cisco APIC Layer 4 to Layer 7 Device Package Development Guide

• Cisco APIC Layer 4 to Layer 7 Services Deployment Guide

• Cisco ACI Firmware Management Guide

• Cisco APIC Troubleshooting Guide

• Cisco ACI System Messages Reference Guide

• Cisco ACI Switch Command Reference, NX-OS Release 11.0

• Verified Scalability Guide for Cisco ACI

• Cisco ACI MIB Quick Reference

• Cisco Nexus CLI to Cisco APIC Mapping Guide

Documentation FeedbackTo provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, please send your commentsto [email protected]. We appreciate your feedback.

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guidevi

PrefaceDocumentation Feedback

mailto:[email protected]

C H A P T E R 1Introduction

• About the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller, page 1

• About the ACI Simulator, page 1

About the Application Policy Infrastructure ControllerThe Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is a distributed, scalable, multitenant infrastructure withexternal end-point connectivity controlled and grouped through application-centric policies. The ApplicationPolicy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) is the unified point of automation, management, monitoring, andprogrammability for the ACI. The APIC supports the deployment, management, and monitoring of anyapplication anywhere, with a unified operations model for the physical and virtual components of theinfrastructure. The APIC programmatically automates network provisioning and control that is based on theapplication requirements and policies. It is the central control engine for the broader cloud network; it simplifiesmanagement and allows flexibility in how application networks are defined and automated. It also providesnorthbound Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs. The APIC is a distributed system that is implementedas a cluster of many controller instances.

About the ACI SimulatorThe intent of the ACI Simulator is to provide real, fully-featured APIC controller software, along with asimulated fabric infrastructure of leaf switches and spine switches in one physical server. Because the ACISimulator includes APICs with real production software, you can use it to understand features, exercise APIs,and initiate integration with third-party orchestration systems and applications. The native GUI and CLI ofthe APIC use the same APIs that are published to third parties.

The ACI Simulator includes simulated switches, so you cannot validate a data path. However, some of thesimulated switch ports have been mapped to the front-panel server ports which allows you to connect externalmanagement entities such as ESX servers, vCenters, vShields, bare metal servers, L4-L7 services, AAAsystems, and other physical or virtual service appliances. In addition, the ACI Simulator allows simulationof faults and alerts to facilitate testing and to demonstrate features.

One instance of the production APIC is shipped per server appliance. By contrast, the ACI Simulator includesthree actual APIC instances and two simulated leaf switches and two simulated spine switches in a singleserver. As a result, the performance of the ACI Simulator is slower than deployments on production hardware.

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide 1

Using the Simulator, you can perform operations on the simulated fabric using any of the following functionalinterfaces:

• graphical user interface (GUI)

• command line interface (CLI)

• application programming interface (API)

The ACI Simulator consists of simulation software running on a special version of the Cisco UCS C220 M3or M4 High-Density Rack Server. For information about the hardware installation and requirements of thephysical server, you can refer to the documentation for the Cisco UCS C220 Server at this URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220.html

The ACI Simulator software cannot be installed separately on a standard Cisco UCS C220 Server or onother servers. The software runs only on the ACI Simulator server, which has the following PID:

Note

• APIC-SIM-S (based on Cisco UCS C220 M3 server)

• APIC-SIM-S2 (based on Cisco UCS C220 M4 server)

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide2

IntroductionAbout the ACI Simulator

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C220/install/C220.html

C H A P T E R 2Simulator Topology

• Simulated Topology and Connections, page 3

• Simulator Server Physical Connections, page 4

• Connecting Network Service Applicances, page 5

• Connecting AAA Server and Syslog Server, page 7

Simulated Topology and ConnectionsThe ACI Simulator implements the following topology:

• Two spine switches (spine1, spine2)

• Two leaf switches (leaf1, leaf2)

• Three instances of APIC (apic1, apic2, apic3)

These components are connected as follows:

• APIC instances apic1 and apic2 are connected to leaf1.

• APIC instance apic3 is connected to leaf2.

• Each leaf switch is connected to each spine switch

This diagram shows the components and connections simulated within the simulator server:


This figure shows the connection of several external ESX servers as an example. External servers connectedto the simulator server ports shown will be connected to simulated leaf switches as shown. For example, aserver connected to port 4 of the simulator server will appear as attached to port 2 of Leaf1.

The vCenter and vShield can be connected through the tenant management network or through the out-of-bandmanagement network. The ESX management connectivity to vCenter and vShield is external to the simulatorserver as shown in the figure.

External servers are not part of the simulator, and need not be ESX servers. External servers may beconnected directly to the simulator server ports or through an external switch such as a blade switch.

Note

Simulator Server Physical ConnectionsThe following figure shows the physical port connections to the rear panel of the simulator server.


Simulator TopologySimulator Server Physical Connections

To access the APIC, youmust connect port 1 to your out-of-bandmanagement network. Port 2 can be connectedto the tenant management network, which connects the leaf switches to the external network devices overlayer 2 or layer 3. You can connect external hosts or layer 2 switches to any of the ports 3 through 8.

The simulator server provides no data path switching between external network devices. You must connectthe external servers to the tenant management network through additional interfaces on the external servers.

Note

The following table lists ports for management and external server connections:

DescriptionSpeedPort

Out-of-band management1G1

Tenant management1G2

Leaf1 port 11G3

Leaf1 port 21G4

Leaf2 port 11G5

Leaf2 port 21G6

Leaf2 port 310G7

Leaf1 port 310G8

Connecting Network Service ApplicancesThis section describes how to connect physical or virtual network service appliances such as firewalls (CiscoASA, for example) or ADC (application delivery controllers such as F5 BigIP or Citrix NetScaler).


Simulator TopologyConnecting Network Service Applicances

The APIC network service integration feature automates these functions:

• Service insertion—Configuring the network for redirecting traffic through network service appliances(nodes)

• Service configuration—Configuring the network service appliance based on endpoint group andapplication requirements

To enable the network service integration feature with the simulator server, connect the service appliances(physical or virtual) to the simulator server as shown in the following figure:

The management interface of physical appliances must have a layer 2 (L2) connection to the Eth1 interfaceport of the simulator server. The management interface of network service appliances must be connected toa port-group providing L2 connectivity to the out-of-bandmanagement network. Additionally, the automationof network connectivity for a virtual service appliance requires APIC to have connectivity to the vCenterserver managing the virtual service appliance VM.

The simulator server provides only the capability to validate service network configuration and servicefunction configuration. As shown in the figure, data packets do not traverse through the simulator.

Note


Simulator TopologyConnecting Network Service Applicances

Connecting AAA Server and Syslog ServerThe following figure shows how to connect the simulator to a AAA server and a syslog server, through eithera L2 or L3 connection. Refer to the applicable configuration guides for configuring the external network,configuring the AAA (RADIUS, TACACS+, or LDAP) server, and configuring a syslog (or Cisco Call Home)server.


Simulator TopologyConnecting AAA Server and Syslog Server


Simulator TopologyConnecting AAA Server and Syslog Server

C H A P T E R 3First Time Access

• Prerequisites for Configuring the Simulator, page 9

• Starting the Simulator, page 9

Prerequisites for Configuring the SimulatorThree IP addresses are required. Each APIC instance requires a private IP address from within your networkfor out-of-band management.

Starting the SimulatorWhen the simulator server boots up, the ACI Simulator starts automatically, launching a separate initializationconsole for each APIC instance. You can switch between the consoles by using the following keyboardcommands:

• Alt-F1— Connects to apic1 console



To continue the configuration and operation of the ACI Simulator, see theCisco ACI Simulator Getting StartedGuide.

Before configuring the simulator server, read the Cisco ACI Simulator Release Notes to learn about anyfunctional or configuration differences between the simulator and the actual APIC.

Note



First Time AccessStarting the Simulator

C H A P T E R 4Installing the ACI Simulator Software

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Installing the ACI Simulator Software, page 11

• Installing the Simulator using a PXE Server, page 11

• Installing the Simulator Using Virtual Media, page 13

Installing the ACI Simulator SoftwareYou can use one of the following methods to install your ACI simulator software:

• Using a PXE server

• Using virtual media

Installing the Simulator using a PXE ServerFollow these steps to install the ACI simulator software using a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server:

The paths of configuration files may vary for your PXE server depending on your Linux distro and howthe PXE server is installed.

Note

Before You Begin

• You must be familiar with setting up a PXE server on a Linux distribution operating system.

Procedure

Step 1 Configure the PXE server with a simulator image as follows:a) Add an entry for the simulator image to your PXE menu.


Edit the /tftpboot/boot_msg to add the entry for the simulator image.

Example:[root@pxeserver ~]# cat /tftpboot/boot_msg | grep Simulator50. Simulator - 1.0.1.247e - secure

b) Mount the ISO simulator image.

Example:# mkdir –p /var/www/html/option50sudo mount –o loop –t iso9660 /local/aci-mnsim-dk9.1.0.1.247e.iso /var/www/html/option50

c) Copy vmlinuz and intird from the mounted ISO simulator image to your tftpboot path.

Example:# mkdir –p /tftpboot/ifcimages# cp –f /var/www/html/option50/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz/tftpboot/ifcimages/# cp –f /var/www/html/option50/images/pxeboot/initrd.img/tftpboot/ifcimages/

d) Create a kickstart file that will be served by an HTTP server.

Example:# mkdir –p /var/www/html/kickstart[root@tftpserver ~]# cat /var/www/html/kickstart/ks-50# IFC Kickstart script for UCS C200installurl --url=http://<tftpserver-httpserver-ip>/option50lang en_US.UTF-8keyboard usnetwork --onboot yes --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6network --onboot no --device eth1 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6network --onboot no --device eth2 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6network --onboot no --device eth3 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6

e) Add an entry to the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default so that it points to the kickstart file for the ACI simulatorimage.

Example:[root@pxeserver ~]# cat /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/defaultlabel 50kernel ifcimages/vmlinuz dd blacklist=isci blacklist=ahci nodmraid noprobe=ata1noprobe=ata2 noprobe=ata3 noprobe=ata4append initrd=ifcimages/initrd.img ks=http://<pxe-http-server-ip>/kickstart/ks-50ksdevice=eth0

f) Restart the PXE and HTTP servers.

Example:[root@pxeserver ~]# service xinetd restart[root@pxeserver ~]# service httpd restart

Step 2 Reboot the simulator server, and enter F12 to start a network boot.Step 3 Choose the options configured on the PXE server to boot the simulator image. Choose Enter.

The simulator setup screen appears in approximately 15 minutes.Step 4 Follow the steps in Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide to setup each Cisco APIC.

Entering ALT+F1 connects to the apic1 console, ALT+F2 connects to the apic2 console, and ALT+F3 connectsto the apic3 console.


Installing the ACI Simulator SoftwareInstalling the Simulator using a PXE Server

Installing the Simulator Using Virtual MediaProcedure

Step 1 Mount the virtual media using the Cisco UCS virtual media instructions by performing the following tasks:a) Enter the IP address to access Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) using a web browser.

You can use a Google Chrome browser.

See Recommended Cisco APIC and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI-Mode Switches Releases forinformation regarding recommended CIMC Firmware Version.

See Cisco Host Upgrade Utility User Guide for information regarding upgrading CIMC

Note

b) Enter the username and password.c) Launch the KVM console.d) Mount the ACI simulator ISO image using the virtual media.

Step 2 Reboot the simulator.Step 3 Enter F6 to enter the boot selection menu.Step 4 Choose a KVM virtual DVD from the available boot options.

Wait for the simulator installation to complete and the setup screen to appear. It could take from 20 to 60 minsto complete. If you have a dedicated CIMC NIC with 1Gbps speed, the setup screen could appear sooner.

Step 5 Press any key to reboot the simulator.Step 6 Follow the steps in Cisco APIC Management, Installation, Upgrade, and Downgrade Guide to setup each

Cisco APIC.Entering ALT+F1 connects to the apic1 console, ALT+F2 connects to the apic2 console, and ALT+F3 connectsto the apic3 console.


Installing the ACI Simulator SoftwareInstalling the Simulator Using Virtual Media

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/recommended-release/b_Recommended_Cisco_ACI_Releases.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/products-user-guide-list.html


Installing the ACI Simulator SoftwareInstalling the Simulator Using Virtual Media

Documents

Cisco ACI Simulator Installation Guide